Events on the Farm
Gratitude Celebration
Gratitude Celebration.. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, November 16th
3 PM- 6 PM Gratitude Celebration
To give thanks and reflect on the past season while we imagine the next. More details coming soon.
Donations welcome $11-111 to support our work
CURE: Walking with Cotton
Join us for a collective experience of deepening our understanding of cotton’s rich and complex histories in African and Indigenous diasporas via sensory based exploration, storytelling, agricultural skill sharing, and creative play with cotton. Refreshments will be served during our time together.
Proof of a negative COVID test is required to attend, and if you need support with accessing a test please reach out via dm/email.
Postponed unitl Spring 2025
Labor of Love Weekend
Labor of Love combines work and play in community. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, October 12th
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
Harvest & package produce, build structures as needed, weed, plant, etc.
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
2 PM - 4 PM Workshop
Learn skills to tend to the land, ourselves, and the beings around us.
8-10pm Special Concert at Race Brook Lodge with Shawn Stevens!!!!!
Join us for Saturday night of Indigenous People’s Day weekend with Shawn Stevens for an evening of music, storytelling and prophesy..
Shawn is an enrolled member of the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohicans, whose ancestral homelands are the Berkshires, including the entire Hudson Valley. A spiritualist, musician, dancer, storyteller, historian, Mohican cultural educator, and sharer of knowledge, Shawn has been fulfilling his path journey for decades by doing a variety of sharing in his people’s ancestral lands as well as the Midwest.
Come join us on October 13th from 12-3 PM for a special event celebrating Indigenous Peoples' Day with a ceremonial walk on Main Street. We will gather at the Gazebo behind Great Barrington Town Hall and walk together to honor and recognize the rich history and culture of Indigenous peoples, organized by Alliance for a Viable Future
Labor of Love Weekend
Labor of Love combines work and play in community. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, September 21st
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
Harvest & package produce, build structures as needed, weed, plant, etc.
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
2 PM - 4 PM Workshop with Tambacum!!!!!!
Tambacum is a co-organizer of the Festival del Tamborito held in Nuquí every January. This presentation explores the origins, evolution, and cultural importance of Tamborito, a traditional music and dance genre from Colombia’s Pacific coast close to Panama.
Tamborito & Cumbancha Music Class This interactive music class introduces participants to the rhythms of Tamborito and Cumbancha, exploring their origins, cultural significance, and inviting audience participation to experience these vibrant Colombian traditions from the norther pacific coast of Chocó firsthand.
Mumbet's Freedom Month - Work Party, Potluck Lunch & Workshop
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
Harvest & package produce, build structures as needed, weed, plant, etc.
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
2 PM - 4 PM Workshop
Learn skills to tend to the land, ourselves, and the beings around us.
TBD
Check for details soon!
Mumbet's Freedom Month -Ayni Herb Farm Workday
Ayni Herb Farm Work Day
Sharing our labor with Ayni Herb Farm. Please follow this link for more information.
Vunja Seed Carnival
A three-day multi-species gathering amidst the systemic failures of our time. An ecology of fugitive practices listening at the cracks ; a carnival performed as mbari: a ritual of decay.
Convened by Bayo Akomolafe, as part of his 2024 W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship, alongside many Co-Conspirators.
Where: Racebrook Lodge and select venues in and around Great Barrington, MA
When: Tuesday, August 6 (from 1 PM) to Thursday, August 8 (closing at 4 PM)
Registration is required. (Wednesday’s Town Hall will be simulcast online for those who cannot attend in person.)
Event Description
Based at an impromptu village brought to life around the grounds of Racebrook Lodge, Vunja will be a panoply of song, discussion, ritual, and hands-on activities. This family-friendly gathering unfolds over three days, including:
Tuesday the 6th | A carnival of activity and offerings, marked by a Welcome Ceremony for our collective arrival, and capped by an evening of storytelling, star gazing, and firelight. Includes Welcome dinner under a tent.
Wednesday the 7th | “Down By the Riverside:” A Town Hall at Saint James Place. Featuring critical explorations of agency, power, and longing in our politically charged moment including nine stellar scholar-activists convened by Bayo Akomolafe. Includes dinner afterward at Race Brook.
Thursday the 8th | Multiple activities seeding a vocation of ‘making sanctuary’ amidst a time of failures, including a somatic workshop, before coming together in a Closing Ceremony and departure. Includes a Farewell lunch.
“Vunja! A Gathering of the Seeds” is a practice beyond solutions, beyond hope, beyond justice, beyond resolution — at the bewildering edges of a world that is always in excess of itself.
Labor of Love Weekend
Labor of Love combines work and play in community. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, July 20th
9:00- 12:00 PM Farm Work Party
Weed, plant, build structures as needed, etc.
12:15-12:45 PM Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
1:00-2:00 PM CURE: Black/Water Experience in Community
Conversations on Ceremony, Creativity and Climate with Ashni and Ebony
4:45-6:15 PM CURE: Black/Water Experience in Community
of soil, sky and sea... a processional
A sharing from the weeklong residency with Ebony Noelle Golden and Jupiter Legacy Project
Labor of Love Weekend
Labor of Love combines work and play in community. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, June 15th
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
Harvest & package produce, build structures as needed, weed, plant, etc.
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
2 PM - 4 PM Linger in Liberation- A guided hike to the Race Brook Falls
Wander through the forest and awaken your senses on this moderate 40 minute hike up to a Waterfall and outlook point.
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…
If you have volunteered before Sign up here
First time volunteers, please fill out this form
Liberation Teach Ins
This film series intends to cultivate awareness, build community and raise funds for organizations dedicated to a liberated and sustainable future for all beings.
Where we will learn together about the systems of oppression at home and throughout the world which work to divide us and explore how to liberate ourselves and our environment for a just and sustainable future.
Our film this month is Origin, the latest film by Ava Du Vernay, a provocative, powerful new movie from Ava DuVernay, tells the story of Isabel Wilkerson, the Chicago bureau chief of the New York Times and first Black woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for journalism. Wilkerson is played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. In the film, she's not just probing current-day racism, but searching for links between slavery in America and Jim Crowe, the Holocaust and the Nazis, and India's caste system. Find the trailer here.
SLIDING SCALE DONATION $15- $20
NO ONE TURNED AWAY DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS
AT RANDOM HARVEST 1785 NY-23, CRARYVILLE, NY 12521
Labor of Love Weekend
Labor of Love combines work and play in community. We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land. We look forward to greeting you!
Saturday, May 11th
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
Harvest and package produce, build structures as needed, weed, plant, etc.
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
Time to nourish and rest. Please list the ingredients in your dish.
2 PM - 4 PM Workshop
Learn skills to tend to the land ourselves, and the beings around us.
Wild Greens,Vinegar & Honey Herbalism Workshop with Angela Highsmith.
We will Forage wild greens for food & medicine, Infuse herbs into vinegar & honey, and Learn how to use Wild Plants & Remedies for Digestion & Skin Support
Coming from a long lineage of nurses, Angela Highsmith has studied & practiced the healing arts since childhood through the lens of availability, food, and weeds. Practicing herbalism & remedy-making since 2000, she earned an herbalism certificate in 2011 and Permaculture in 2022, and is most passionate about empowering others to learn their bodies, local herbs and environment for the most sustainable & thriving health of persons & planet.
Sunday, May 12th
11 AM - 4 PM Community Sweat Lodge
Undoing Racism Workshop
Undoing Racism Workshop at Race Brook Lodge
“Participants will experience a humanistic process for laying a foundation to explore how we have been racialized, socialized, and conditioned to think about race and racism.” Learn more here.
Thursday 10 AM - 4PM
Friday 10 AM - 4PM
Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM
Land Partner Spotlight: A Warm Winter by Kareem M. Lucas
Esteemed actor, writer, producer, and director Kareem M. Lucas is set to premiere his latest autobiographical monologue, “A Warm Winter,” at the Race Brook Lodge on April 20.
Lucas has captivated audiences with his Spalding Gray-esque offerings at renowned venues like The Public Theater, Cherry Lane, New York Theatre Workshop, American Repertory Theater and Wooly Mammoth. He continues to push the boundaries of solo performance with his new work. A WARM WINTER which was workshopped at the Bric Arts in 2021 .
WINTER builds on his legacy: part confession, part standup, part sermon. The story unfolds in a nightmarish drug episode that spirals into a revelatory journey. What results is an immersive exploration of personal crisis, redemption, and the human spirit. True griot style storytelling that is stripped down to the barest essentials and radiates a theater practice that draws its audience into a poetic trance.
“Disruptive and real, [Lucas’] combination of starkness and lyricism brims with barely contained passion and desire. A hurricane.” - Stage Buddy
Stay over! Race Brook is offering a 20% discount on overnight accommodations for guests attending the A Warm Winter reading using code KAREEM. Click here to book your room now. We are also offering a Spring Break special: from April 19-29, book 2 nights and get a 3rd night free! Click here for more info about that.
Labor of Love Weekend
Join us for the first gathering of 2024! Labor of Love combines work and play in community.
Saturday, April 20th
9 AM - 12 PM Work Party
12 PM - 1 PM Potluck Lunch
2 PM - 4 PM Plant Sit with Khadija from Ayni Herb Farm
Sunday, April 21st
11 AM - 3 PM BIPOC Community Sweat Lodge
We ask that all participants fill out this form prior to arriving on the land
Spring Grief Circle
Grief Circle on Ayni Herb Farm
Join us on Sunday, April 14th from 1-4PM for the first BIPOC seasonal grief circle of the year at Ayni Herb Farm.
We are living in a time where multiple genocides are being live streamed to our phones and despite our calls to make it stop, the war machine of amerikkka keeps propelling forward. Coupled with the state sanctioned violence our queer, trans, and BIPOC communities already face domestically—we believe that it is vital and imperative that we create spaces to feel, honor, and process grief together with the loving support of the land and each other.
This month we will partner with Ayni Herb Farm, to create a space to tend to our collective grief. For this springtime circle, we will be exploring the emotion of anger that is so often entangled with grief. This will be a physically active and engaging space that will be held outdoors on the farm. We'll begin by building connections with one another and the land, grounding in the medicine of spring, and engaging in practice and reflections from 1-3PM. Our time together will conclude with a potluck from 3-4PM.
We invite you to bring an item for our collective altar and a nourishing dish to share for the potluck.
Facilitators:
Ashni is a private practitioner of the Somatic Experiencing® method, which is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
Ashni facilitates ceremonies, meditations, and experiences permeated with love that cultivate radical awareness, appreciation of self, and overall ecstatic wellness within participants and their community with the intention of re-cultivating a deep connection with our Earth mother
khadija is a queer gujarati-muslim land tender, community medicine maker, and gatherings coordinator at Ayni Herb Farm. They are committed to creating containers that allow community members to grieve, grow, learn, laugh, and love together. khadija has turned to ritual work and the medicine of the elements, the plants around them, and the moon, as teachers in their own healing journey and is excited to bring these modalities of communal healing to Ayni.
Access Notes:
Proof of a negative COVID-19 test will be required for entrance to ensure our collective safety. Limited COVID-19 tests will be available on site. If this feels like a barrier to you, please reach out to us.
Please stay home if you feel sick, suspect you have been exposed to COVID-19 within the past 10 days, are recovering from COVID-19 and/or live/share indoor space with someone who currently has COVID-19 in order to minimize spread. We highly encourage participants to limit high-risk activities before participating in this event and continue masking in public spaces (including around people who you do not know their covid status). Hand sanitizer and hand washing stations will be available at all times and is required for anyone sharing tools and food during the event.
Please keep in mind the weather for the day and dress appropriately as we will be outside for the entirety of this circle. Please wear sturdy shoes as the terrain is uneven and some areas are very muddy. Bring a journal, something to write and/or draw with, and a water bottle. If you have tools that would be supportive to you during our time together, please feel free to bring them with you. We will be serving hot herbal tea during our time together.
Ticks are present! We encourage you to do a tick check when you get home. Some other preventative measures include: wearing light colored clothing, long sleeves and pants, or socks over pants.
We have very limited shaded areas especially during the middle of the day. So please make sure to bring a hat, sunglasses, and drink lots of water if the weather is forecasted be sunny and warm.
The terrain is uneven and very muddy in certain areas so please wear sturdy boots.
We will be gathering in a circle where participants have the option to sit on the ground on blankets or in a chair.
A single stall porta-potty is available on site with a hand washing station next to it.
Cost:
While we strive to keep events like our grief circle free of charge, our guiding principle at Ayni is reciprocity. It's crucial for us to maintain reciprocal relationships not only with the land but also with each other. The ticket cost is intended to compensate our guest facilitator and Ayni staff member for their time and effort, including ideation, material gathering, space preparation, facilitation, and cleanup. The true cost of participation is $35, however we also recognize the importance of accessibility and are offering a sliding scale option to ensure that cost is not a barrier. If you are able to contribute more, we encourage you to do so to support those who may not be able to meet the full ticket cost.
More information here.
Ayni Herb Farm is located at 1989 Country Rd 11 Hillsdale, NY.
Liberation Teach Ins
More than 60% of the world’s reserves of cobalt are in the DRC and this mineral is essential for the production of electric car batteries, which may be the key to reducing carbon emissions and to slowing climate change. This month’s film will look at this industry and discuss the true costs of this industry.
This film series intends to cultivate awareness, build community and raise funds for organizations dedicated to a liberated and sustainable future for all beings.
Where we will learn together about the systems of oppression at home and throughout the world which work to divide us and explore how to liberate ourselves and our environment for a just and sustainable future.
SLIDING SCALE DONATION $15- $20
NO ONE TURNED AWAY DUE TO LACK OF FUNDS
AT RANDOM HARVEST 1785 NY-23, CRARYVILLE, NY 12521
Liberation Teach Ins
Come together to learn about the
systems of oppression at home and
throughout the world which work to divide
us and explore how to liberate ourselves
and our environment for a just and
sustainable future. Hosted by Action Network
Register here
Film Screening and Facilitated Conversation about Israel/Palestine
Random Harvest Community Space
Suggested Donation $10-$20
Tea will be provided
1785 Route 23, Craryville, NY
Future Dates:
Feb 22, March 28, April 25, May 23
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: COMMUNITY POTLUCK
Come join us for a community potluck and open mic. Please bring photos and talismans of ancestors and people who have recently passed away - for the offrenda. And bring a song or a poem ot a toast to offer your loved ones in the next world. The mic will be open all night long. Free to the public - but please register so we can communicate about food arrangements.
Part of our Dia De Los Muertos Weekend
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: CALPULLI TLETL PAPALOTZIN
Friday we continue to celebrate Dia de los Muertos with the wonderful dance troupe, Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin.
Hailing from NYC, the group is dedicated to indigenous Mexika tradition, revitalizing the culture, dances, and ceremonies that are carried out according to the season. Calpulli Tletl Papalotzin strive to continue and share indigenous values, medicine, and traditions to preserve their cultural inheritance.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: ALTAR BUILDING WITH BRISA
Join us Thursday, November 2nd at 6pm for a workshop on altar making as a spiritual practice that connects us to ancestral wisdom. This Indigenous ritual invites us to remember not only who we are, but who we come from. We hope to cultivate sacred space where past, present, and future are held and honored.
The Barnspace at Race Brook Lodge
864 South Undermountain road ( AKA Rt 41 ) Sheffield, MA
This Event is Free to the Public. Donations are welcome
Part of our Dia De Los Muertos Weekend
Brisa is a somatic grief worker, detribalized Xicana, keeper of Indigenous wisdom and advocate of decolonial thought. Her background includes leadership roles in care farming communities implementing trauma informed practice, education, and medical advocacy for people with developmental disabilities and mental illnesses. Brisa's commitment to decolonizing Western care models that are often devoid of culturally relevant, trauma-informed perspective has included consulting for organizations creating functional systems of accountability for anti-racism, Diversity Equity and Inclusion work. She believes that embodied wellness is a birthright.
DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: BRUNCH WITH YO SOY ARTE & DIA DE LOS MUERTOS: PULSO DE BARRO
Join us at The Stagecoach Tavern, for a delicious brunch with Latin music from Pittsfield based duo Yo Soy Arte! The band's music comes from the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and Central and South America.
Brunch served 12-3pm
Live music starts at 12:00pm
$10 cover for the music
No cover to enjoy brunch in a different part of the restaurant
Part of our Dia De Los Muertos Weekend
CALL Race Brook at 413.229.8585 TO BOOK A TABLE
For the conclusion of our Dia De Los Muertos weekend, and the closing of our ritual offrenda alter in the barn, we will host a Fandango de Los Muertos featuring the band, Pulso de Barro. Lead by Mateo Cano and Maria Puente Flores,
Pulso brings traditional Son Jarocho from Veracruz, México to the Hudson Valley. Their band's name (and the name of their weekly radio show in Kindston) Pulso de Barro translates as “pulse of the clay” referring to a unifying earth pulse that makes the building blocks of story and culture.
There is a dance class happening with the band beginning at 4pm.
4pm-11pm
Dance Class with the Band at 4pm
Fandango begins at 7pm
The Barnspace at Race Brook Lodge
864 South Undermountain road ( AKA Rt 41 ) Sheffield, MATickets: $15 | Get Tickets
Part of our Dia De Los Muertos Weekend
Sanctuary: Harvest Celebration Weekend
SANCTUARY
A Gratitude Celebration at Mumbet's Freedom Farm
Saturday
10-1PM
WORK PARTY
1-2PM
COMMUNITY LUNCH
2-4PM
THE MAGIC OF CEMPAZÚCHITL WORKSHOP WITH DIANA
Guided by: Diana Arellano-Gonzalez
Celebrate the magic of cempazúchitl, otherwise known as flor de muerto (flower of the dead) that is often used to commemorate our ancestors during Día de los Muertos. Participants will learn specifically about Aztec marigold (Tagetes Erecta) and its history, powerful medicine, and its multitude of uses. We will also make cempazúchitl tinctures.
Sunday
11-3PM
TEMAZCAL
3-4PM
POTLUCK LUNCH
4-6PM
BEEKEEPING PEACEKEEPING: BEES AS OUR TEACHERS WORKSHOP
RSVP Here
We are fundraising for our next season
Suggested Donation: $22 - $2,222
NOTA* No one turned away
Cash, Venmo , PayPal
Event Partners
Multicultural B.R.I.D.G.E.
Drop-In Volunteer
Drop-In hours are every Tuesday & Thursday!
Volunteer Activities may include:
Set up/clean up of space
starting seeds
watering seeds/plants
labeling plants
sorting seeds
medicine-making
pruning
building projects
painting signs
seed collection
and more…